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Published: April 12th 2013
After leaving Gila Hot Springs....and putting City of Rocks in the rearview....and after a windy windy night....we headed to Chiricahua Natl' Monument (Cheer-ahh-cow-ah)
The story here also starts with the drive in....only this time we took it up a notch...a big notch.
Looking at the map it was the likely choice for getting to the park.....although the GPS had different thoughts...but it wasnt the first nor will it be the last time i over rule the GPS...
I will note that there were no major identifiable differences in the line's indicating the roads on the map other than that they were grey....which we've driven before and were back roads but paved and lined. There was also no notice of the impending mountain pass we were about to surmount.
The road started paved and soon turned to dirt, we figured whatever and continued, we DID continue to see signs indicating we were headed towards the correct town and towards the park. Had we not continued to see these signs we would have tuned around. This dirt road kept getting chunkier and more narrow and started going up, up, and up. More hairpin turns, this time with fewer signs.
One of the signs
Broken and decrepit but you can make it out...Steep declines to our right, no guard rails. Up up up more turns, hairpin turns, even a few shallow river crossings (only a few inches but still....we're driving a mini-van). Then it started to snow, sleet, and get colder, 31 degrees at the coldest. At this point we were committed to continuing, we had been on this road and traversing this mountain pass for over an hour. Sketchy driving but we made it with trailer in tow, finally the road tipped downward....
Destination was Chiricahua Natl' Monument (again...Cheer-ahh-cow-ah)
The result of more volcanic activity, 25 million years ago, giant volcanos erupted and spewed hot molten ash over this area. Lots of ash, up to 2,000 feet of ash (two-thousand feet of hot ash). Under the heat and pressure rock formed of varying minerals and firmness. Over millions of years water / wind / weather eroded the softer rock and minerals and left behind what we see today. Pretty cool stuff, the formations seemed to change as you walked and looked from different angles and as the sun moved across the sky and cast a different light. We hiked about 12 miles of trails in our two day two
River Crossing
( a minor one, it is a DODGE!!) night stay at the park. The nights were cold here, we were at a higher altitude than previous. Nights were in the mid thirties and we're tent camping....we had romantic sleeping arrangements which included hats, gloves and sox. Not the mention the dog who slept under one of the blankets and somehow woke up with her legs in and wearing Shannon's down jacket during the second night....
We've since skipped out of that area and are heading further west in Arizona.
Re-fueled this afternoon in Benson, AZ. Fuel for the van, filled the propane tank, filled the coolers with food ice and water, picked up some camping supplies at the hardware store and did a few loads of laundry which left our clothes seemingly dirtier than when they went in....
Between the cold nights, about a week (maybe ten days) since the last proper shower, and her shirts getting ruined, shannon was feeling a little homesick this afternoon, but then we got some ice-cream and everything is better now...
JP
lots o pics coming for this one, we enjoyed the formations...
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Sonny
non-member comment
Great job on the photos, good use of perspective.